Finance Minister AMA Muhith and IDB president Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali signing the US$ 140 million loan agreement on behalf of their respective sides in the city Tuesday. — PID photo

The government Tuesday signed a US$140 million loan agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to finance the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project.

Finance Minister A M A Muhith and visiting IDB President Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali signed the deal at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The length of the proposed Padma Bridge is 6.15 kilometres, and its total estimated cost is US$ 2.9 billion. After construction, the bridge would connect the country's 19 south-western districts with the capital.

Among others, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, Prime Minister's Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, and Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan were present at the loan signing ceremony.

The government already signed a $1.12b loan agreement with the World Bank in April, and another $415m loan deal with the Japan International Cooperation Agency on May 18 to construct the country's largest bridge.

The deal with the Asian Development Bank will be signed on June 6.

Finance minister, after signing the agreement, said the bridge would help augment the country's economic progress through removing the isolation of the south-west districts from the rest of the country.

"The economic development of a country significantly gets slower, when there is no good communications network," Muhith told reporters after the meeting.

"We would be able to maintain the time schedule in completing the mega project," he added.

The IDB president said he was confident that the project would be completed within the set timeframe in a transparent manner and without any additional cost.

"Cooperation between the IDB and Bangladesh has been increasing in a number of areas," the IDB head said.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said the World Bank would provide Bangladesh $300 million more in addition to $1.2 billion, committed earlier.

"We'll build the bridge with the highest level of integrity and transparency," the communication minister asserted.

Prime Minister's Adviser Mashiur Rahman said the people of the south-west region would be immensely benefited after construction of the Padma Bridge.

"This is a good example of political leadership, civil servants and development partners working together," he said.

Besides the Padma Bridge deal, another loan agreement of $14.84 million was also signed by the finance minister and the IDB president, as the bank is going to finance a water supply and sanitation project in the country's cyclone-prone coastal areas.

"Both the projects are of high importance for the socio-economic development of the country," reads a release, issued by the MoF.

While speaking at a press briefing on the last day of his two-day Bangladesh visit, Dr Ahmad Mohammad Ali said IDB will strengthen cooperation with Bangladesh for upgrading the country's infrastructure and cut poverty rate. "We have mobilised US$750 million fund this year from the market to assist our Muslim brothers' countries. We hope our support to Bangladesh will increase further," he added.

Mr Ali said IDB usually works in Bangladesh based on the success rates of projects implemented here. "We hope our operation in the country will improve in the future days,"

The visiting chief of the Jeddah-based donor agency said they would ensure highest transparency while spending the US$130 million grant by an anonymous philanthropist for constructing cyclone shelter-cum-schools where devastating cyclone Sidr played havoc in November 2007.

The philanthropist donated the $130 million fund to IDB for helping Bangladesh to recover from losses caused by Sidr.

The government in May 2008 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the IDB for proper use of the $130 million grant.

The IDB and the government decided to build cyclone shelter-cum-schools and support the agro-based families at the cyclone affected areas in the southern coastal districts.

IDB has undertaken a scheme titled "Fael Khair Programme" where some $110 million fund has been earmarked for building the cyclone shelter-cum-schools and remaining $20 million for assisting the cyclone-affected poor people.

The programme faced setback in its initial stage as the implementation procedure was very slow in first two years due to some bottlenecks and inefficiency of the executing agencies, sources said.

Source: Financial Express/Bangladesh/May-25-2011